


Celebrating Death

by fairyScorpicus, kraefandoms



Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Unus Annus - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Ethan-Centric, Fix-It, Gen, LORE?????, Listen it's Unus Annus what are you expecting, More tags to be added, Now That That's Out Of The Way, RIP The Barrel, Unus Annus, character dies at the beginning and is immediately brought back to life, death personified, ok i put major character death but its not permanent, overdramaticized, plot is like a bad hollywood take of unus annus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27584219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyScorpicus/pseuds/fairyScorpicus, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kraefandoms/pseuds/kraefandoms
Summary: Unus Annus. Momento Mori.One year. Remember death.Alternatively: Ethan takes a bet that he shouldn’t have.He doesn't feel bad about it. Yet.
Relationships: Amy Nelson & Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach & Amy Nelson & Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach & Ethan Nestor
Comments: 11
Kudos: 42





	1. In the Beginning

Ethan Nestor is dead. He knows this like anyone else would know it, deep in their soul and with absolute certainty. He doesn’t know how it happened. One moment he was alive, and the next moment he was floating in darkness. Everything is calm and peaceful.

He knows he is dead, but he doesn’t feel sad about it. A bit regretful, perhaps, but he doesn’t know why. Methodically, he searches through his thoughts to find the specific reason why he feels regretful. He isn’t sure how much time has passed, days, or years, or a second, but before he could figure out why he feels regret, his surroundings change. 

He knows instinctively who is before him. Death. But Death doesn’t appear the way he had imagined. Rather… Death looks like... him. It was like looking at a mirror, if the reflection was wearing a black suit and tie.

“It wasn’t your time,” Death sounds… puzzled. “You dying now affects things in ways you mortals can’t comprehend. You inspire people, comfort them, and they in turn will affect the world. It wasn’t your time.”

“So what now?” Ethan asks.

“It wasn’t your time,” Death says again. “And yet you are dead. And so I will make you a deal. One year. You have one year to celebrate death properly. If you succeed, you can stay alive. If you fail, you return to me.”

Ethan frowns. “What about all the people I affect?”

“It will be greatly unfortunate,” Death says. “And the world will change. But eventually, everyone comes to me one way or another, sooner or later than planned. Nothing is permanent. Nothing is certain.”

“I don’t want to die,” Ethan admits. “And I don’t want to risk changing the world for the worse. I’ll do it.”

Death holds out his pale hand. Ethan reaches towards it with his identical hand.

“Can you give me a clue on how to celebrate death properly, at least?”

Death laughs. “You already have everything you need.” Ethan tries to pull away, suddenly afraid, but Death’s grip is too tight. Everything starts to blur, and all he can hear the same four words repeated. Unus Annus. Memento Mori.

And then everything turns white.

And he can hear his phone ringing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairy came up with this idea before Unus Annus ended. I (K Rae) am in mourning.
> 
> edit 11/18: changed the tense of the verbs since I hate writing past tense and also I have a feeling I'm going to be writing most of this - K Rae


	2. Unus Annus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and we're back baby!

“Hey, you seem on edge. What’s up?”

Ethan shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets. It’s cold for LA, and his hoodie doesn’t quite protect him nearly enough from the cold November winds.

Mark looks over at him, and Ethan looks away from his concerned stare. He doesn’t even know where to begin! The fact that he died. His deal. Death looking like him, which was weird and kind of creepy.

Mark looks away, and Ethan internally sighs with relief.

“So I was thinking of making a new channel, and I wanted your help.”

“My help?” Ethan asks, genuinely surprised.

Mark nods. “It’s… different. And I trust you.”

Ethan smiles, trying to push away his own problems. “Alright, what is it?”

“We make a channel, just like a random doing-stuff-because-we-can channel, except we delete it in a year.”

The deadline sends a shiver down Ethan’s spine. “A year?”

Mark must not notice, because he nods and continues. “What do you think?”

Ethan nods. “I like it.”

Mark smiles and continues once more. “Sort of a celebrating life because you don’t know when it’s going to end kind of thing.”

The words echo in Ethan’s mind, and briefly, his breath catches in his throat, but he nods. “Yeah,” he says.

Maybe, Ethan thinks, it’d be less terrifying if he didn’t know just how long he did have.

Mark taps Ethan’s shoulder, and he looks up at Mark to realize his friend is staring at him, very concerned. “Okay,” Mark says. “Something’s up. And you’re going to tell me.”

“Mark,” Ethan whines, making a face, but Mark shakes his head. 

“Ethan, we’ve been friends how long? I know when you’re hiding something, and I’m… I’m concerned, man.”

Ethan smiles, putting up his best front. “It’s nothing, Mark. Besides, you know I’d tell you if anything was really wrong.”

Mark looks dubious, but apparently - thankfully - he buys it, at least for now.

And for now is all Ethan needs.

He lets Mark talk, nodding and speaking when he needs to, and they continue onwards, until they find themselves at Buffalo Wild Wings, eating dinner, talking about the name.

“What’s ‘one year’ in Latin?” Mark wonders out loud.

The mention of the time still sends shivers down Ethan’s spine, but he doesn’t mention it. “Doesn’t Google Translate have Latin?” He asks in turn.

Mark’s eyes light up. “You’re right.” He digs out his phone, and Ethan watches in anticipation as Mark looks it up.

Mark giggles for a moment before pausing. “Okay, there’s no way that’s pronounced how I think it is, let’s see how Google says it’s pronounced.”

Mark presses a button on his phone, and his phone speaks: “Unus Annus”.

Ethan stares at the phone. “Unus Annus?” He asks. 

“Yeah, but look how it’s written: Unus Anus,” Mark says, pointing the phone in Ethan’s direction.

Ethan cracks a smile, but the haunting words from last night follow him. “Unus Annus, huh?” 

Mark smiles at him. “It’s fitting, you know? Just a little bit cursed.”   
Ethan smiles back. “Unus Annus it is,” he agrees.

They talk, and go home, and film their first videos for the channel, but all Ethan can think about is the timer ticking down over his head.

One year. Unus annus.

Maybe this will be how he does it, he thinks, as he watches the video goes live at 12:01 am, November 15, 2019.

Maybe this is how he will celebrate death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took a hot minute, classes have been kicking my ass. love you all tho <3 - K Rae


End file.
